Number of small, medium businesses in Russia reaches new high of over 6.8 mln

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The number of small and medium enterprises (SME) in Russia reached a new record high of 6.835 million at the beginning of 2026, which was up by 247,000 or 4% from a year earlier, the Economic Development Ministry reported.

SMEs employed 19.92 million people at the end of the third quarter of 2025, based on data from social security contribution calculation forms, which was more than in 2019-2024.

Small and medium businesses provide more than half of the jobs in the economy in a number of regions, including 65.5% in Kalmykia, 63.9% in Moscow, 63.6% in St. Petersburg, 53.8% in Novosibirsk Region and 50.2% in Tyumen Region.

The regions with the highest numbers of registered SMEs at the end of 2025 were the Central, Volga and Southern federal districts with, respectively, 2.1 million, 1.2 million and 0.8 million.